The Straight Shift with The Car Chick Sep 3, 2025

Confessions of a Rental Car Ninja: The Dos, Don’ts, and WTFs for Renting Cars

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Great shift with the car check.

The podcast that's all about cars, buying, selling, fixing,

and driving, and sometimes ready to hear the car check.

Now here he is.

Hey, everyone, and welcome back to this great shift,

the podcast that tells the unfiltered truth about cars,

driving, and all the automotive nonsense

we deal with along the way.

Right now, I am deep in the planning phase

for a bucket list trip this fall to the UK

with my husband and my 80-year-old mother.

This is something my mom and I have been wanting to do together

for a few decades now.

So she turned 80 this year.

We're like, this is the year we're going to do it.

And for me, it's going to hit three bucket list items

in one trip, a transatlantic on the Queen Mary

2, seeing Stonehenge and driving

on the wrong side of the road.

That's right.

I will be renting a car across the pond

and driving in a right-hand drive car

on the, quote, wrong side of the road

for the first time in my life.

And I'm super excited about it, not

just to drive on the other side of the road

and see if I can do it without wrecking,

but I'm planning to rent a brand of car

that I can't get here in the US.

I'm really hoping for something like a Peugeot, which

is something that you can't get in the US.

And I can get a manual transmission,

because in Europe, they rent cars with proper transmission.

So I'm really happy about that.

So stay tuned.

I will be covering that experience on this podcast

after the trip.

We'll get back in early October, so probably

one of the October podcasts.

And I'm going to do a video blog for my YouTube channel,

CarChick TV.

This rental is going to be a little more challenging than usual

because not only is it a different country,

but I have some very specific requirements, other

than being a car I can't get here

and having a manual transmission.

But because of my mother's mobility issues,

she can't get in and out of really low cars or really

high cars.

We have to have one that's just right,

that she can easily get in and out of,

and also have enough room in the back to carry her mobility

scooter, which we are taking with us.

So I can't just get a little small, sporty, fun car

to zip around the English countryside.

So in figuring all of this out,

I realized I probably needed to turn to an expert car

renter to get some advice, because it's

been years since I've rented cars on a regular basis.

And I've certainly never done it overseas.

Plus, there are some secrets.

There are scams out there.

And there are some strategies that you've got to use

to be a smart car renter.

So I reached out to a longtime client of mine

who has mastered the rental car game over the past 20-odd

years.

And he is here to share that hard-earned wisdom

and tell us the do's, don'ts, and what the f's of renting cars.

So let's get into it.

I want to welcome Doug Hofer, a good client of mine,

frequent traveler, rental car ninja.

Doug, thank you for coming on the show.

You're welcome.

Thanks for having me.

How is it that you have become this rental car ninja?

You travel for work.

How many cars have you probably rented in your life?

I'd say ballpark probably five or 600.

Five or 600?

Oh, my gosh.

Like, I'm doing math in my head.

That's like around 25 cars a year.

Roughly.

Yeah, that's probably between 25 and 30.

Wow.

Has that all been in the US, or have you

rented in other countries, too?

No, I've rented in a few other countries.

Oh, this will be fun.

All right, well, why don't we just kind of start

with the basics before we get into what I'm sure

going to be some fairly hilarious and terrifying stories.

But when is the best time to rent a car?

We talk a lot about the best time to buy a car.

But there is good times to rent, days of the week,

picking it up.

What's your advice there?

Definitely the best time to rent a car

is first thing Monday morning, or even Monday afternoon.

It's OK.

Tuesday and Wednesday can be a little dicey.

The business travelers, like myself,

are the ones taking all the cars those days.

Not going to get your pick of the litter

if you go on a Wednesday.

Damn.

You're not.

I'm going to be running one on a Wednesday night.

Dang it.

Well, I will say the Wednesday night could benefit you,

because they run out of cars, typically Tuesday, Wednesday,

Thursday morning.

Wednesday night, if you reserve a small, or like you

were saying, a mid-sized car that's good for your mother,

you might get something a little nicer,

because that's all they have.

Oh, I don't mind a free upgrade.

I'm totally up for a free upgrade, so.

Fair enough.

Thursday afternoon and Friday and over the weekend

is typically not a problem to get a car.

All the business travelers start returning the cars

around Thursday around lunch, and they kind of sit there

until Monday morning.

And a lot of us think about renting cars

for personal travel, for vacations,

and we don't realize just how much of the rental car business

are the corporate business travelers,

like I used to be when I rented cars all the time.

So it makes sense.

Now, I know that when you and I have talked in the past,

because we've been joking about your rental car ninja

skills for several years now, you

mentioned renting from the airport location.

Now, is that always true, or is that just convenience

because you're flying into the airport?

It's mostly convenience.

I have rented, for some of the local trips that I take,

I rent from a local location.

Like an enterprise or a.

Like mostly, mostly, I typically

do all my renting with national rental car.

I've been with them for almost 30 years.

I use Hertz a little bit, but I've

had a couple of bad experiences with Hertz

and Enterprise Alamo National.

They're all the same parent company.

So if you're renting from Enterprise,

you're kind of renting from any one of those three.

Do the airport locations have a better selection of cars

than the local places?

I would say the airport locations have the better cars,

the newer cars with the lower mileage.

OK, well, that's good.

Well, I'm going to be renting out of the airport

in Southampton in England.

So I think it's going to be smaller.

But I was not going to rent the car out of Heathrow

and have the first time driving on the opposite side

of the road in a right-hand drive car,

a brand I've never driven, be getting out of Heathrow, which

is trying to get out of JFK or O'Hare,

after an eight-hour red-eye flight.

So being jet-lagged, I just didn't

think that was the safest choice.

So we're going to take a car service from Heathrow

to Southampton and then take a nap.

And then I'll go pick up the rental car

later in the afternoon at the Southampton airport.

So hopefully I'll have some good choices there.

But you talked about you have kind of a loyalty

to national rental car.

So what is it about that?

And we're not really plugging any particular companies here.

And certainly none of them are paying me or giving me

any benefits whatsoever.

Hint, hint.

But I'm just curious as to what you like about national.

I certainly have my favorite.

What is it about national that you like?

As I've told you, I've rented from Hertz as well.

But Hertz, you reserve, quote, quote,

almost a specific car.

And with national, I belong to the executive,

actually I'm an executive elite.

There's an Emeril Isle and there's an executive area.

And you get to choose the car you want,

which gives you, with all the carvenals I've had,

I've driven so many different cars

and I can put in my memory banks, which ones I really

don't like and which ones I do.

So the program here, and it's not just

national doing this.

It's because you're a part of this loyalty club

and you have reached their super god-like status with them.

Yes.

So the rest of us might not get these benefits.

No, but they have.

If you join the national club, and I believe most credit

cards, a lot of the travel credit cards, offer it.

And I think the fee is only $50.

Don't quote me on that.

But basically you walk outside and it's an Emeril Isle

and you can choose any car in the Isle.

You're not limited to a sedan or an SUV.

You can choose that.

Oh, so you're not even limited to the class of cars.

Like pretty much anything in this row, grab the keys and joy.

Correct.

OK, that's nice because there's a huge price difference

normally between renting a small sedan and renting

a big honking SUV.

Correct.

That's really nice.

One of the things that I've done in the past is,

because I've never really had that level of luxury

with the rental cars before, but when I check in,

I say, so what have you got?

What is it you're trying to give me?

And then I negotiate with them from there

because I will reject cars.

I'm like, nope, that's not what I want.

Or they'll tell me, oh, you can have this, this, or this.

At least I get a choice sometimes of what it is.

Like, OK, yeah, I'll take the Mazda.

Oh my god, no, I do not want the Chevy Malibu.

I understand.

So I kind of go, you're taking.

Another benefit of joining one in the clubs,

they all have it.

You don't stand in the line.

You go straight to the garage.

Or even if I rent from a local enterprise,

everything's already in their system on file.

I just show up and we go outside.

That's it.

Nice.

Now has technology changed?

Because I know with so many other things in our lives,

we can just kind of show up and there's a kiosk.

And when I've rented U-Haul trucks, you just show up

and you do everything on the app.

And there's a lock box and you do some things.

And you never actually speak to a human.

Are the rental companies doing that now?

Not quite yet, but the shift is coming.

You still have to stand in quote, quote, a line

to get out of the rental car area.

In your car, obviously.

Atlanta Airport is by far the worst.

That can take longer than the flight from Charlotte

to get out of the rental car area.

Dallas Fort Worth is not any better.

Yeah, no, it's not.

No, the interview is not any better.

That's one of the frustrating parts.

I know that Hertz is in the last couple of months,

they're doing starting to do some AI stuff

with checkout of rental cars.

Some of it's good, some of it's bad

because there's an AI computer or something

scanning the car for every little scuff

and every little dent.

That's something new, something new.

Wow, okay.

So we'll come back to that a little bit later.

But that's very interesting.

My favorite rental car company

is a company called Sixth, S-I-X-T.

And that's one that not a lot of people

in the US have necessarily heard of.

They've expanded a lot over the last decade,

but they're a very old company.

They're almost 100 years old

or something crazy like that started in Germany.

And what I love about them is that

you can rent real cars, you can rent BMWs,

you can rent Mercedes,

you're not just getting the normal

Junker rentals that we're so used to.

And that's enough for me to have a loyalty

to that company because I can have

a much nicer rental car.

But they kind of solidified my loyalty to them.

I was making a trip out to Hollywood for some business.

And I did just rent with them the cheapest little thing

that I could get.

I think I reserved like a Hyundai Accent

or something like that.

And when I, it was a small car,

but it was just me and one other person.

And you know, we just had overnight bags.

It wasn't too bad.

So I was more concerned about,

okay, I know I can park that in LA,

but when I got there and I was checking in

and chatting with the guy,

he actually recognized me and my brand

from the podcast and some television work that I had.

And he said, wait a minute, wait, wait, you're the car chick.

Oh, you can't drive a Hyundai in Hollywood.

And so he upgraded me to a Mercedes.

Okay, that worked out well.

Thank you.

So yeah, that one experience pretty much solidified

my loyalty to that rental car company for life.

So I'm looking forward to renting with them in the UK.

So I have skipped out some.

I've skipped out on a Pujo.

Yeah, there's a little small Pujo SUV

that I'm really hoping that I can get one of those

cause it's just the right size.

It's a manual transmission and it's a great car.

So keeping my fingers crossed.

Let's talk for a minute about,

you had mentioned some of the most terrible cars

and you like being able to pick the exact car

because you have had some less than optimal,

shall we say, experiences.

What is seriously like the worst thing

you've ever had as a rental car?

That would be last spring in Tulum, Mexico.

I reserved the car.

There is no national Alamo or enterprise at Tulum.

Tulum is a new, it's the latest fad in Mexico,

South of Cancun.

They've got a brand new airport.

It's kind of just getting up and running,

so to speak.

I mean, the whole area of Tulum

is getting up and running.

And I've made a reservation of Hertz

and we got off the plane.

We weren't the only plane to land.

No, they didn't have any, whatever Hertz is called.

President's Circle, there was no special line.

And I got down there and I was with my wife

and we stood in the line for a few minutes

and it was not moving.

There was only one or two people,

checking at the counter doing the work.

And I looked over at this company next to him

called Eurocar, E-U-R-O-P-A-R.

I've seen it before.

Anyway, I walked in there and I just said,

do you have any cars?

Which that's not normally my style, right?

And he said, yeah.

And it ended up costing about the same thing,

but the car we got.

Wow, it was a brand I'd never heard of

because this is in Tulum, Mexico.

It was something I think it came from Asia somewhere.

The car had 116,000 miles on it.

Wow.

It was a four door sedan

and the car was in such rough shape.

I didn't take any pictures.

I didn't even write anything down.

There were stains all over the inside of the car.

I mean, it was bad, but we made the best of it,

but it did work out because we did quite a few things

in downtown Tulum, which is not the nicest area.

So we had no problems parking that car

because it blended right in with the environment.

You know, sometimes having that, you know,

that local camouflage vehicle is not necessarily a bad thing.

You probably wouldn't want to be driving

a BMW or Mercedes around some of those places.

Definitely not Tulum.

No, that'd be my worst experience.

Did it at least have air conditioning?

It did have air conditioning, but it didn't work very well.

I mean, it worked, but not spectacular.

It was bad.

Nice.

Well, what was the best thing,

what's the coolest car you've ever been able to rent?

Or what do you like the best?

I would have to say we went to South Beach

one time, it's been quite a while ago.

Well, when I tell you the car,

you'll understand what I mean.

Went to South Beach, played some golf

and we got a Cadillac, Cedandaville,

the big white Cedandaville,

but it had the V8 North Star engine,

which, yeah, that, I love that car.

I love that engine.

And we ended up going to Key West in it

and, you know, so we were in the car a lot.

Obviously it was good.

It was, that was probably the best rental we've ever had.

And no, I did not reserve a Cadillac.

I reserved like a full size.

Gotcha.

Back then, this is quite a while ago,

they didn't have the executive aisle,

executive lead, that didn't exist.

So that was probably the best upgrade.

They gave you something nice.

So it was comfortable

because Cadillacs are extremely comfortable.

It was.

And it had the ump.

Did you guys get any speeding tickets

going down to Key West?

Nope, I did not.

Wow.

Well, my, probably my favorite was,

either that Mercedes, you know,

that I got upgraded to,

because it's way cooler to drive around Beverly Hills

and West Hollywood in a Mercedes,

even a, you know, low level Mercedes.

It wasn't a fancy one.

It was a C-Class,

but so better than driving around Beverly Hills

in a Hyundai Accent.

But honestly, one of my favorite rental cars,

and it's just more for the ridiculous fun factor,

I was traveling out to San Diego for business.

I got a PT Cruiser.

This was a long time ago.

This was probably 20 years ago.

So, you know, they're cute,

not a quality car in any way, shape or form,

but I had more fun.

Driving that stupid thing.

They're cool to drive.

It was very bouncy.

And so as I was like flying full speed

around the corners and over,

I mean, we were just like,

whee, it was kind of like being

on a little roller coaster car.

Yes.

And it was just hilarious.

That's one of the most fun experiences

I've had in the rental car,

because I did not care if I beat it up.

It was a PT Cruiser.

I understand.

Yeah, I've run a few of those.

Many years ago, but I've rented a few.

They're a nice little ride.

Let's put it that way.

I did have a really nice,

the last few times we've been to Alaska

and when we get to Skagway,

we always rent a car and drive into

the Canadian Yukon and stuff like that.

And it's, you know,

there's one rental car agency in Skagway, Alaska.

And it's, you know, run out of a little small trailer.

These two ladies own it.

It's a Avis franchise,

but so you get a Toyota forerunner.

And I actually three years apart

got the exact same forerunner both times.

Granted, I probably only have two or three of them,

but you know,

you get a lunch, you know,

for everybody and you get this little tour thing.

So it's just more than just renting a car.

You're kind of renting the little experience

of driving around there.

And it was fantastic.

So had a lot of good experiences

driving around the Canadian Yukon

and a nice Toyota forerunner.

So those were good.

One of the challenges that we have with renting cars

and something that I'm trying to figure out

for this England trip is insurance.

They always try to sell you on their insurance.

And when I rent here in the U.S.,

I usually don't take it

because I have confirmed with my rental agency

in my state farm.

So I feel comfortable that I'm covered when I rent locally.

They have informed me that there is no coverage whatsoever

outside the United States.

And so I'm gonna have to figure out what to do in England.

But tell me about your thoughts about that

and what your experience has been with rental car insurance.

I agree with you domestically.

Yeah, it's, you don't really need it.

And there's also a few three or four credit cards

out there, travel credit cards

that are not secondary insurance.

They are the primary insurance

if you use that credit card to pay for the rental.

They're the higher end cards, but they're the primary.

So basically if you total the car,

as long as you weren't being stupid

or doing something dumb, they would cover it.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

Internationally.

Internationally is a whole different ballgame.

It was funny when we went, not funny,

but I was kind of surprised in Tulum

when we rented that POS,

you have to take their liability.

It is not a choice.

And it's actually, it was built into the rate.

So you cannot decline.

You can't do that in Mexico.

You have to rent the car with the Mexican liability.

But that was liability part, not collision on that thing.

I would hope you wouldn't have collision on that thing.

I didn't take your collision on that car.

No.

Most of the international cars I've rented,

including Europe, I have declined the insurance.

I've kind of rolled the dice,

but it's expensive, the insurance, it really is.

I'll have to see what the insurance will be like

because I'm not sure I'm willing to roll the dice

even though I've never driven

on the other side of the road before.

Oh no, I understand.

I agree with you.

If you only rented the car for one or two days,

I would take the insurance.

I would.

I probably will, just to be on the safe side.

I rented it in places like Aruba,

and I didn't worry about it there

because I know how to drive in Aruba,

but this'll be a new experience.

Driving on the other side of the road is not that big of a deal.

I was just in the Cayman Islands about two weeks ago.

The roundabouts are a little tricky.

Now I'll just give you a little.

Well, people here can't drive on the roundabouts

that we have, at least in Charlotte.

I love roundabouts.

Well, I love roundabouts too,

but unfortunately, like you just said,

most people don't know how to use them properly.

And when you're going the opposite direction

and you're sitting on the wrong side of the car,

the roundabout is a little bit of a different experience.

This is true.

Now I can't remember in the Caymans.

The Caymans is purely British, right?

It's right hand drive, opposite side of the road.

Sometimes in the Caribbean,

and my father used to love this

because he loved renting cars

and I learned all my driving from him,

but I do remember in some places in the Caribbean,

when I was a kid, we'd rent a car

and it was British roads, but American cars.

So you're driving on the wrong side of the road,

but the steering wheel is still on the left.

So trying to make those turns

when you're not next to the lane,

some of the turns are like really weird

and wide and you're like, where's the road?

Where's the road?

So at least I don't have to do that,

but I do plan to train for it

because anytime I've raced a new racetrack,

I've trained the track by going on YouTube

and finding YouTube videos of other racers

who have similar cars,

and I just watch those videos over and over again

to learn the track.

And I think I'm gonna do the same thing

and watch some driver point of view videos from the UK

to kind of get used to what it looks like

and feels like to drive on the wrong side of the road.

So hopefully that will help.

That should help.

I really hope.

Now, have you ever been dinged

for damaging a rental car,

whether you actually did or not?

Couple times, yes.

So what happened there

and what can you do to avoid that?

Oh, I can give you a lot of details for that.

I was lazy the two times I got dinged.

One was a windshield.

It was only $150 or $200.

It was a big star in the windshield

and I missed it when I looked in.

Unfortunately, these rental car companies

where they parked their cars,

it's not the most well-lit area.

It's not.

No, they do that on purpose,

but that's another story.

And the other time,

I think there was a scuff on the bumper that I missed

and it was a couple hundred dollars.

I mean, it wasn't the end of the world.

I haven't missed anything dramatic.

My best advice is if you rent any car,

walk around it very thoroughly,

especially the windshield and the roof.

Get on, open the door, stand on the,

whatever you call it.

You don't think about looking at the roof.

No, you gotta look at the roof.

That's the most expensive part of the car to repair.

And especially now if they've got those AI things

that are gonna be scanning the cars,

when you returned it before,

you're kind of at the mercy of whatever person

checked you in.

And I've never had one of them look at the roof

of the car.

But AI is gonna look at the roof of the car.

And no, they're doing it more now

than the last couple of years I've noticed.

They're standing on the door well

or whatever you call that door seal

and looking at the roof.

Because I once picked up, I didn't rent this car

but I got in a car and when I climbed

to look at the roof, the whole roof had been scratched.

Somebody went in to a garage, rubbed the garage,

the whole roof was scratched

and I did not take that car.

I wouldn't have looked.

I could have been held responsible for that.

And take photos.

I recommend taking photos of it.

And if there's damage in the interior,

definitely take a picture as well.

Like a cigarette burner or something like that.

And it probably wouldn't hurt to even take

a good walk around video too

and then take individual pictures

of any specific thing you find.

Just to cover your rear end on that.

Yes.

You don't wanna pay for damage that you caused

but you really don't wanna pay for damage

that the person before you however many times caused.

I agree.

That is excellent advice there.

Now Doug, have you ever rented an electric vehicle?

Yes, I have.

One time actually in Kansas City,

I showed up on a late Tuesday morning

doing something I said not to do.

And the only available car was an electric vehicle.

Fortunately I was staying pretty close to the airport.

Only about maybe 50 miles total.

So I ended up taking it, worked out okay.

Did you have to find a place to recharge at all?

I know that can be stressful.

Oh.

No, I did not.

Nice.

It was only a one night rental.

So you didn't have to worry about range anxiety.

Nope.

You didn't have to figure out how to plug it in

and refill it with electrons.

No, I did not.

And they didn't require you to refill the electrons

before bringing it back.

Like you have to put gas in a gas car

before you bring it back.

No, no, that was not a requirement of renting it.

Yeah, so okay.

So there's an advantage

but I know that I've had some clients

rents electric vehicles.

Again, not by choice

but because that was all that was left.

I think they were in Florida

and they had no idea how to drive one.

The rental agency was like,

oh, don't worry about it.

There's charging stations everywhere.

Yeah, they had trouble finding charging stations

or they found one they weren't working

or they were full.

They sort of actually really put so much stress

on their vacation

because they were just constantly worrying about

how do I fill this thing up with electricity?

Instead of just being able to go to the gas station.

Did you have any problems actually driving the car?

Because I know you guys do not own an electric vehicle.

It was different and the biggest difference.

Not driving itself

but there's no break on it.

This is a Tesla, little sedan

and there is no break on the car

which is very different

because you pick your foot up off the gas

or the accelerator, whatever Tesla calls it

and the car slows down but it's different.

But there's no actual break.

Yeah. There is no actual break.

No, there is not.

Yeah, but I like my three pedals.

Thank you very much.

I even freak out when there's not a clutch.

I will not be renting an electric car

like ever if I can help it.

I would rather just ride in a robot taxi

or something like that

than have to deal with electric vehicle.

Thanks so much for being here

and sharing your wisdom, Doug.

Everyone, I hope you found this useful.

What I got out of this was

you don't necessarily need the insurance

they try to sell you

with their ridiculous rates

from the rental car company

but check with your insurance agency first

to be sure what coverages you do

and do not have

especially if it's international.

Don't rent from sketchy rental car companies

in Tulum, Mexico.

That's one case where it's probably

we're standing in the Hertz line

to get a car that is not a piece of junk

although blending in can be useful

and definitely-

And it made it. The car made it.

The car made it.

You guys made it.

You know, you blend it in

and be sure you do an extraordinarily

thorough walk around to the car

before you sign that rental agreement

if you want to upgrade your own personal ride

and you're not sure how to do that

you can check out my online carbine course

at carbinecourse.com

or go to my website, thecarchic.com

and check out all of my full service packages

where I can do all the buying for you

like I have for Doug and his wife, Leanne

over the years.

Thanks everyone. Drive safely out there.

We're out of here.

The straight shift podcast is copyright

Leanne Shattuck, The Car Chick.

All views expressed by guest and or co-hosts

are those of the guest and or co-hosts

and not necessarily those of Leanne Shattuck

or The Car Chick.

About this episode

Navigating the world of rental cars can be tricky, especially when venturing abroad. The Car Chick shares her excitement about an upcoming trip to the UK, where she'll tackle the challenges of renting a car while accommodating her mother's mobility needs. Joined by rental car expert Doug Hofer, they discuss essential tips for renting, including the best times to book, the importance of loyalty programs, and the ins and outs of rental car insurance. With humorous anecdotes and practical advice, this episode is packed with insights for anyone looking to rent a car, whether at home or overseas.

Chevrolet Malibu Chrysler PT Cruiser Hyundai Accent Mercedes-Benz C-Class Porsche Cayman

Original notes

Summary

In this episode of The Straight Shift, The Car Chick® discusses her upcoming trip to the UK with her family, focusing on the challenges and excitement of renting a car abroad. She brings in special guest, and rental car ninja, Doug Hofer to get advice. The conversation delves into the nuances of rental car experiences, including tips for navigating the rental landscape, memorable car experiences, and the importance of understanding insurance and liability when renting a vehicle. Listeners gain insights into the best practices for avoiding damage charges and ensuring a smooth rental experience.

Takeaways

Booking a rental car at the right time and right place can lead to better options.
Taking thorough photos of a rental car can help avoid damage charges.
Having a loyalty program can enhance the rental experience.
Rental car companies often try to sell unnecessary insurance.
Electric vehicle rentals can come with challenges like finding charging stations.

You can view a full list of resources and episode transcripts here.

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